KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hannah Helker of Oklahoma Baptist has been named the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Runner of the Week, the national office announced Wednesday. Helker was chosen for her performance during the week of Oct. 7 – 13 and was selected out of a pool of conference and independent award winners. With this week’s award, Helker becomes the first two-time Cross Country National Runner of the Week of 2013. Helker was also selected twice in 2012.

Helker, a junior from Edmond, Okla., won the NAIA Preview Meet on Oct. 12 at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan. Helker bested the 268-runner field, covering the 5-kilometer course in 17:02.46. She outpaced the field by over a minute—the next runner finished in 18:08.44—and led the No. 15-ranked Bison to a third place finish behind No. 9 Dordt (Iowa) and No. 14 Taylor (Ind.) with a team 5k time of 1:34:31.

On the men’s side, Helker’s counterpart Adam Godwin topped the 272-runner field with an 8-kilometer time of 24:34.21, leading the No. 13-ranked Bison to a fourth place finish behind No. 3 Aquinas, No. 8 Lewis-Clark State and No. 4 Shawnee State. Godwin earned NAIA Men’s Cross Country National Runner of the Week honors for his performance. Helker and Godwin achieve the first Cross Country National Runner of the Week sweep since College of Idaho’s Hillary Holt and Greg Montgomery did so on Oct. 26, 2012.